Connor

I looked over at the sleeping rich girl and sighed...she looked younger than Valencia and me. Well, she was in just as much trouble as us...even if she was rich. So I moved over to her and tore off her chains. Then I was faced with a problem...do I move her? or do I let her sleep? I decided eventually to just let her sleep, then went back to Valencia who was sitting by the door, rubbing her chaffed wrists.

"So," I asked as I sat down next to Valencia, "how did you end up here?"

She shrugged, "Probably the same way as you did...I used to live on the street, then this guy caught me and put me in the back of a truck. We drove for a while and then he shocked me and put me in a cage. After being brought into a place full of people in cages and left there for a while, someone else came in, put me to sleep, and I woke up chained to the table." She sighed again. "Some woman came in and told us we were chosen and that we should be grateful...not sure what we were chosen for, or why we need to be grateful...but yeah."

The door opened and I got up quietly. A tall man walked in, he was dressed in a black suit and had a gun at his side...perfect! I jumped on his back and wrenched him to the floor as he passed us. He had time for one surprised yelp before I knocked him out with a fist to the head. "Ow!" I cried indignantly as I pulled my fist back and rubbed it, "that hurt!"

Valencia giggled and I smiled back, "Guess we better wake up rich girl over there," I said indicating the sleeping girl's form.

It took her a while to wake up and when she did she cringed away from me, "Wh-who are you? and what do you want with me?" she asked in a scared voice.

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "The name is Connor, and I don't really want much to do with you...I'm getting out of here, now you want to tag along or not?"

She looked really scared and cringed even more. I immediately regretted having been so harsh...she looked like she was only twelve or thirteen! "Look, I'm sorry I'm being a little mean, but I was just chased down, knocked out, put in a cage, and had my life taken away...I'm here to help ok?"

Though her eyes were still huge, she nodded and got slowly up, "I'm Jessica," she said hesitantly.

I nodded and moved back to the unconscious man, took his gun, and moved out the hall motioning for the girls to follow me. It was long and had no doors or windows. I moved quickly to the end where it turned off onto another corridor and stopped. I checked carefully around the corner and ducked back just in time..."There's a man coming," I whispered to the girls, "get behind me."

When the man came round the corner I tackled him and kicked him in the head to knock him out. Then I motioned again for the girls to follow before turning toward the a big set of doors that led outside. I pushed through the doors and came face to face with a fist. It hit me on the side of my mouth, splitting open my lip against my teeth. I growled, lowered my head and charged the man, hitting him square in the stomach. He crumpled like a rag doll. I shoved my elbow into his face then moved on, I almost ran into a fence and was about to climb over it when I saw the sign. It was electric. I carefully threw a stick at it, the stick started to smoke and it turned black. Yup, definitely an electric fence. I looked around for another way out, the whole compound seemed surrounded by the fence, wait! There was a lever up there with a sign saying "Pull to Deactivate." Crap! It's out of reach! I looked around, nothing I could use either...then I had an idea, I didn't like it much but it was the only way I could think of on such short notice. "Jessica, come here," I commanded.

She jerked her head to look up at me, as if I had startled her out of some daydream, Darnit! we don't have time for that! "I need to lift you up until you can pull that lever, ok?" I asked.

She nodded hesitantly...apparently she didn't like the idea of being picked up by me any more than I liked the idea of picking her up. Apart from accidentally bumping into one, I've never really touched a girl...and...well, I don't know it just seemed weird. But Jessica came over and waited for me to pick her up and I knew it was the only way out, so I did it, I quickly picked her up, and as soon as she pulled the lever, I put her back down again.

Some may ask why I picked Jessica. Well, it's not because she was lighter, though that is probably true, it is because she is younger, picking up Valencia would have been even more awkward and I wanted to avoid that.

I threw another stick, no sizzling or smoke this time. Good, that meant no electricity. I climbed over the fence and then waited as the two girls did as well. We were free! I looked around, the place was surrounded by forest! Well, I suppose I could survive there just as well...before I had gotten to Brooklyn I had lived in a semi-nearby forest, I had actually been there for two years after my parents died and I had runaway with my sister so that we didn't have to be separated. When she had died, I had buried her then run. Run as long as I could possibly run for, then collapsed. Turned out I woke up on the streets of Brooklyn, and that was where I stayed ever since; living by myself.

I shook my head to rid myself of those thoughts then ran into the forest, only stopping once to check that the girls were still following me. Eventually Jessica called up to me "Please...stop...I...need...a...break," she said between gasps for air.

I sighed, I wasn't even starting to breath heavily yet and we needed to get as far as possible from that...that...place. Well, I wasn't going to leave anyone behind, rich girl or not. I pulled to a halt and Valencia pulled up next to me, she wasn't breathing all that heavily either. Jessica came up to us, "Thanks," she panted as she sat down.

"You don't want to do that without cooling down first," I warned. Jessica looked up at me quizzically. "You need to do some stretches, otherwise you'll end up all sore," I explained.

She nodded then got up and tried to go through some stretches. I looked around again, there was a berry bush nearby and a some mushrooms I recognized as edible as well. "Valencia, would you please go pick as many of those berries as you can? I'm going to gather some mushrooms over there," I asked.

"Are you sure that they're edible?" she asked.

"Yes, both the berries and the mushrooms can be eaten...at least some of those mushrooms can be, that's why I am picking them...I used to live in a forest like this." I didn't go on, the subject was far to painful. It was bad enough being in the forest like this again. It brought back memories of my sister...memories I had buried long ago.

"Jessica, when you have recovered, do us a favor and climb that tree and pick the loquats up there?" I asked, trying to be kind. She nodded so I left to start picking the mushrooms. When I came back I Valencia and Jessica were once again tied up. I could leave now and be free, or I could try to save them. If I tried to save them I may or may not succeed; there were about five men there, and I was very doubtful as to whether I could beat them.

I started to turn around and leave, but I just couldn't leave them there like that. Gritting my teeth in frustration I turned around again and charged the nearest man, I kicked him between the legs and he grunted and crumpled up into a ball on the floor. I didn't spare him another thought, I pulled out the gun and pointed it at the man who was drawing his own. "Drop it!" I commanded, the man looked left and right, "I said drop it!" I commanded again. The man lifted his hands up just as a fist hit me on the back of my head. My vision started to blur and I fell to my knees. I lashed out behind me, catching the man in the shin, hard. He grunted and lifted his foot up, I launched myself into him sending both of us upward. I landed back on my feet, but I swayed awkwardly then fell over and blacked out.

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A new planet has been discovered.The government of several countries are trying to test the ability of the planet to support life. The countries are picking teenagers between the age of thirteen and fifteen to send into space.The family of the teen needs to be either dead or sick or very rich.you can pick....

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